Deputy Editor, Daily Life

"There are a substantial number of marks assigned to answering what I think are frequently Mickey Mouse questions": Richard Hunstead. Photo: Cathryn Tremain

The Board of Studies will review the HSC Physics syllabus this year to assess whether a move away from mathematical content had weakened the subject.

University lecturers said high school physics had been ''dumbed down'' and focused on the history of physics at the expense of rigorous mathematical analysis and problem-solving. As a result, they said, students often arrive at university with a distorted view of what physics is and whether they are good at it.

There are a substantial number of marks assigned to answering what I think are frequently Mickey Mouse questions

The debate adds to concerns raised by Australia's chief scientist, Professor Ian Chubb, about the national shortage of science, technology, engineering and maths skills. In 2012 he released a report saying it was in the national interest to strengthen the science and maths supply line as a matter of urgency.

Yet HSC enrolments show students increasingly opt for general mathematics instead of the more challenging 2-unit maths. And the proportion of students studying physics is sliding.

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The associate head of teaching and learning in physics at the University of Sydney, Associate Professor John O'Byrne, said the ''crashing numbers'' in physics were part of the reason the mathematical content of the subject was reduced when the syllabus was restructured about a decade ago.

''They're trying to present a physics course that will attract a range of people,'' he said. ''You don't do that by making an intensely mathematical physics course, unfortunately.''

But Richard Hunstead, who is a physics lecturer at the University of Sydney and assesses HSC exam papers for the Board of Studies, said he is uncomfortable with the ''touchy feely'' questions.

''There are a substantial number of marks assigned to answering what I think are frequently Mickey Mouse questions, which rely on rote learning and parroting back material from the textbook,'' he said.

''This is one of the things that irks me when I review the paper each year. It appears the Board of Studies is quite adamant that they want to make it an all singing and dancing course that has a more wider compass if you like. It touches on more subject areas but it does it in rather superficial ways.'' Consequently, he said, some students arrive at university without the adequate ''mathematical competence or insight''.

''I think the level of maths that is now expected of students in the HSC has actually dumbed down what we are able to offer in first year [university].''

The first-year physics director at the University of NSW, Elizabeth Angstmann, said the HSC course was more of an arts subject than a science.

''About a third of the syllabus is history-based, rather than actually solving physics problems,'' she said.

The president of the Board of Studies, Tom Alegounarias, said it was ''a substantial exaggeration'' to suggest HSC physics was more of a history than a science. But he conceded there was ''more language in it and less scientific and mathematical analysis''.

While he was not certain why the changes to the subject were made, he said that ''I can imagine it was about communication being just as important as the maths''.